october 2023
Well, here is the end of the first term for this academic year! Since the start of September, governors have been coming into school to ensure that the school action plan is happening and that, more importantly, it is having a positive impact on the children at school. It is pleasing to report that a number of exciting things have, and are, taking place in school to enrich the experience for our young people- bikeability, swimming lessons, fencing sessions, Deer friends at the Parish Rooms, the kindness café for mindfulness, gardening, early years foundation stage improved classroom layout and resources, school trips taking place and the building effective relationships together (BERT) bronze award being achieved, to name but a few.
A really exciting development, for me as the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) governor, is the swift development of a new support space for children in school. This new space will provide additional support for some key children in school to help them access school in a way that meets their needs and helps them develop beyond just the curriculum content. This will be a great development for Deer Park in supporting the children; watch this space!
This term I also had the pleasure of speaking to a number of children from across the year groups in school. As a governor, I’m really keen in getting the voices of the young people and their experiences of school. I ask them what they enjoy, what they are excited about, what changes they would like to see happen ,and ask them about anything that makes them unhappy. Gathering this information from the pupils allows me to challenge school in ensuring that the experiences of the young people are central to all we do. The pupils I met recently were really positive about so many things including: their love of English and the texts that they are reading as a class, the challenge maths groups that they are part of, pupils who were part of intervention maths groups felt they had improved and understood the subject better. Pupils discussed the use of technology to support their learning in lessons and it was acknowledged that pupils who found prolonged writing difficult benefitted particularly from this. Pupils spoke to me about enjoying some of the freedom in learning where they could choose how to present their learning e.g. in reports, as powerpoints and presentations or through art. Giving pupils the opportunity to decide how to present their learning allows them to really show off their knowledge; this was clearly important for pupils and I’m excited to see how this will be developed further. Pupils were also positive about junior lunchtime supervisors, accelerated reader monitors, and the upcoming librarians who will be chosen to support in the new library that is nearly completed at the front of the school.
Pupils were also really happy to talk to me about things they wanted to change. A key thing that came up for lots of children was they wanted more time to read during the day! I thought longer breaks and lunchtimes would come up first but more reading did (longer breaks and lunchtimes were discussed, don’t worry!). Some year 6 pupils were keen to talk to me about the change in the playground/court system. Previously, year 6 have had the privilege of using the playing court to themselves. This system has now changed to rota year groups accessing the court to ensure everyone has chance to use it. I understand their frustration but, as a governor, I want systems to be fair so all children can access this resource and enjoy their playtime. This may be a sticky point for quite some time but they could see the need for fair access. Another key point that pupils talked about was a desire for more technology lessons. Students particularly enjoyed coding sessions but wanting extension activities with this; again this is something for us to think about. As governors, we will continue to work with as many pupils as we can to get their voices and understand their experiences to make sure Deer Park is a positive and enriching place to be for our young people. I will, as will other governors, always question pupils around how safe they feel in school and ensure that we do all we can to ensure safeguarding our children is at the forefront of our minds and actions.
Finally, I want to thank so many of you who have been so supportive to school and the staff around the abusive emails/letters and damage to personal property that has happened lately. This has been an incredibly hard and upsetting time for staff but the outpouring of kindness and support around this issue has been really uplifting, thank you.
To the children and staff at Deer Park, we hope you have a wonderful, well deserved half term break. See you in November for the run up to Christmas!
A really exciting development, for me as the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) governor, is the swift development of a new support space for children in school. This new space will provide additional support for some key children in school to help them access school in a way that meets their needs and helps them develop beyond just the curriculum content. This will be a great development for Deer Park in supporting the children; watch this space!
This term I also had the pleasure of speaking to a number of children from across the year groups in school. As a governor, I’m really keen in getting the voices of the young people and their experiences of school. I ask them what they enjoy, what they are excited about, what changes they would like to see happen ,and ask them about anything that makes them unhappy. Gathering this information from the pupils allows me to challenge school in ensuring that the experiences of the young people are central to all we do. The pupils I met recently were really positive about so many things including: their love of English and the texts that they are reading as a class, the challenge maths groups that they are part of, pupils who were part of intervention maths groups felt they had improved and understood the subject better. Pupils discussed the use of technology to support their learning in lessons and it was acknowledged that pupils who found prolonged writing difficult benefitted particularly from this. Pupils spoke to me about enjoying some of the freedom in learning where they could choose how to present their learning e.g. in reports, as powerpoints and presentations or through art. Giving pupils the opportunity to decide how to present their learning allows them to really show off their knowledge; this was clearly important for pupils and I’m excited to see how this will be developed further. Pupils were also positive about junior lunchtime supervisors, accelerated reader monitors, and the upcoming librarians who will be chosen to support in the new library that is nearly completed at the front of the school.
Pupils were also really happy to talk to me about things they wanted to change. A key thing that came up for lots of children was they wanted more time to read during the day! I thought longer breaks and lunchtimes would come up first but more reading did (longer breaks and lunchtimes were discussed, don’t worry!). Some year 6 pupils were keen to talk to me about the change in the playground/court system. Previously, year 6 have had the privilege of using the playing court to themselves. This system has now changed to rota year groups accessing the court to ensure everyone has chance to use it. I understand their frustration but, as a governor, I want systems to be fair so all children can access this resource and enjoy their playtime. This may be a sticky point for quite some time but they could see the need for fair access. Another key point that pupils talked about was a desire for more technology lessons. Students particularly enjoyed coding sessions but wanting extension activities with this; again this is something for us to think about. As governors, we will continue to work with as many pupils as we can to get their voices and understand their experiences to make sure Deer Park is a positive and enriching place to be for our young people. I will, as will other governors, always question pupils around how safe they feel in school and ensure that we do all we can to ensure safeguarding our children is at the forefront of our minds and actions.
Finally, I want to thank so many of you who have been so supportive to school and the staff around the abusive emails/letters and damage to personal property that has happened lately. This has been an incredibly hard and upsetting time for staff but the outpouring of kindness and support around this issue has been really uplifting, thank you.
To the children and staff at Deer Park, we hope you have a wonderful, well deserved half term break. See you in November for the run up to Christmas!
SEPtember 2023
Governors would like to welcome children, parents, carers and staff back to school this term.
We have been delighted to see how the children have settled back into the learning environment quickly and we send a big welcome to the new Reception children. We are looking forward to visiting some of the children and staff over the coming weeks to continue our governor monitoring.
Committee meetings and governor training, including safeguarding, have commenced and we continue to keep the well-being of children and staff in the forefront of all we do. We were pleased to also attend online safety training that was available to staff, governors and parents/carers, really helping to inform all about the importance of keeping our children safe online.
Unfortunately, over the last 6 months, anonymous e-mails and letters of a threatening nature have been sent to staff and staff cars have also been maliciously damaged. These matters have been reported to the police and we would like to ask that all children, parents, carers and staff are shown respect. We would urge anyone that has any further information about this matter to contact the police to help with their investigation.
We continue to monitor the school budget in these increasingly challenging times to ensure that the school continues to be able to offer the children the best opportunities to learn and develop.
Parents evening is approaching, and we hope to be able to meet you there. Please do come and say hello if you see us!
We have been delighted to see how the children have settled back into the learning environment quickly and we send a big welcome to the new Reception children. We are looking forward to visiting some of the children and staff over the coming weeks to continue our governor monitoring.
Committee meetings and governor training, including safeguarding, have commenced and we continue to keep the well-being of children and staff in the forefront of all we do. We were pleased to also attend online safety training that was available to staff, governors and parents/carers, really helping to inform all about the importance of keeping our children safe online.
Unfortunately, over the last 6 months, anonymous e-mails and letters of a threatening nature have been sent to staff and staff cars have also been maliciously damaged. These matters have been reported to the police and we would like to ask that all children, parents, carers and staff are shown respect. We would urge anyone that has any further information about this matter to contact the police to help with their investigation.
We continue to monitor the school budget in these increasingly challenging times to ensure that the school continues to be able to offer the children the best opportunities to learn and develop.
Parents evening is approaching, and we hope to be able to meet you there. Please do come and say hello if you see us!
